The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 on Sunday night in Game 1 of the NLCS, a rematch a year in the making, and they took a 1-0 series lead.
The decisive moment came in the fifth inning. Rookie Luis Lara stung a first-pitch changeup from Tarik Skubal to score Garrett Mitchell, who had drawn a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a Cooper Pratt sacrifice bunt. Milwaukee manufactured the run and held the lead the rest of the way, a fitting display of how the Brewers reached this series. It also showed that this is not the same Milwaukee team that was swept by the Dodgers last year.
Bullpen was the star
Milwaukee’s bullpen carried the win. DL Hall, Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill combined for 4⅔ scoreless innings and worked out of several dangerous spots with composure. Ashby deserves special credit. He covered two innings and induced a pair of infield popups in the eighth, one from Freddie Freeman and one from Shohei Ohtani.
Three double plays made the difference
Early on, Jacob Misiorowski struggled, but the Brewers’ defense bailed him out. Milwaukee turned 6-4-3 double plays to end both the first and second innings. After Misiorowski exited in the fifth, Hall got an inning-ending double play to stop another potential rally. Those three twin killings kept the Dodgers from building momentum at key moments.
What it means for the Dodgers
This is only the second time since the Dodgers’ championship run began in 2024 that they have lost the opener of a playoff series. The first was the World Series last year, when they bounced back to beat the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 2 with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound. Yamamoto starts Game 2 on Monday at 5 p.m. ET. Los Angeles will need a strong start from him, because falling behind 2-0 in the series against a team as strong as the Brewers could create serious trouble.